Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith

Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith

John Owen

Edited by

Brian G. Hedges

Reformation Heritage Books

Grand Rapids, Michigan

SERIES EDITORS

Joel R. Beeke & Jay T. Collier

Interest in the Puritans continues to grow, but many people find the reading of these giants of the faith a bit unnerving. This series seeks to overcome that barrier by presenting Puritan books that are convenient in size and unintimidating in length. Each book is carefully edited with modern readers in mind, smoothing out difficult language of a bygone era while retaining the meaning of the original authors. Books for the series are thoughtfully selected to provide some of the best counsel on important subjects that people continue to wrestle with today.

Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith

© 2016 by Reformation Heritage Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Direct your requests to the publisher at the following address:

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Originally published as Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of God’s Elect (London, 1695).

Printed in the United States of America

16 17 18 19 20 21/10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Owen, John, 1616-1683, author. | Hedges, Brian G., editor.

Title: Gospel evidences of saving faith / John Owen ; edited by Brian G. Hedges.

Other titles: Gospel grounds and evidences of the faith of God’s elect

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : Reformation Heritage Books, 2016. |

Series: Puritan treasures for today | Originally published as: Gospel grounds and evidences of the faith of God’s elect. 1695.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016014473 (print) | LCCN 2016016236 (ebook) | ISBN 9781601784612 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781601784629 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Faith.

Classification: LCC BT771.3 .O94 2016 (print) | LCC BT771.3 (ebook) | DDC 234—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014473

For additional Reformed literature, request a free book list from Reformation Heritage Books at the above regular or e-mail address.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. First Evidence: Choosing, Embracing, and Approving God’s Way of Saving Sinners through the Work of Christ Alone

2. Second Evidence: Habitually Approving of the Holiness and Obedience God Requires, as Revealed in Scripture

3. Third Evidence: Consistently Endeavoring to Keep All Grace in Exercise in All Ordinances of Divine Worship

4. Fourth Evidence: Bringing the Soul into a Special State of Repentance

Preface

John Owen was born in 1616, the same year that William Shakespeare died. While Shakespeare is justly famous as the greatest playwright in the history of the English language, Owen is arguably our greatest theologian. The son of a minister himself, Owen lived through both the highest and lowest points of the Puritan era. He served as Oliver Cromwell’s chaplain in the 1650s. He opposed the move to make Cromwell king in 1657. And after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he faced persecution for being a nonconformist, which significantly curtailed his influence and changed the course of the rest of his life and ministry.

Though he was raised in a Puritan household, Owen did not come to a settled assurance concerning his own salvation until 1642. He attended a church service at St. Mary Aldermanbury, London, and expected to hear the famous Edmund Calamy preach. But a substitute, whose name Owen never discovered, filled the pulpit instead and preached from the text Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? (Matt. 8:26) God used this sermon to bring Owen to assurance of his salvation.1

Owen published his first book the next year, beginning a writing career that would span four decades. He wrote more than eighty books, some of which were published after his death. Many of these books have endured as spiritual classics and have been republished in recent decades. These include his well-known trilogy on sin, recently republished as Overcoming Sin and Temptation; his substantial defense of particular redemption in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ; his devotional exposition of Trinitarian spirituality in Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; his magnificent Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ; and his magnum opus, Pneumatologia: A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit. Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith is one of the lesser-known gems in the vast treasure trove that fills the twenty-four volumes of Owen’s collected Works.2

The Value of This Book

Few topics are more vital to vibrant Christian living than faith. The Scriptures teach not only that we are justified by faith (Gal. 2:16), but also that we are sanctified by faith (Acts 26:18), receive the Spirit by hearing with faith (Gal. 3:2, 5, 14), and become children of God by faith (John 1:12–13; Gal. 3:26). The righteous are said to live by faith (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:22). Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). And whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). The whole life of the Christian is to be a life of faith.

But sometimes there is great confusion concerning the nature and evidences of genuine faith. We know from Scripture that there is such a thing as dead faith (James 2:14–26). And we have examples in Scripture of some who believed but proved, in the end, not to be true disciples of Jesus after all (see, for example, John 2:23–25; 8:31–37). Few things are more important than to understand the essential nature of saving faith, to have the skills by which to discern the evidences of saving faith in our lives, and to know how to exercise our faith so as to thrive spiritually. Rare is the book that accomplishes these pastoral, diagnostic functions while at the same time keeping our eyes steadily fixed on the object of faith—namely, Christ Himself. In this short book originally titled Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of God’s Elect, John Owen did both. There are four specific reasons why this book remains valuable to the church today.

First, Owen highlighted the difference between gospel, or evangelical, Christianity and all other systems of religion. This difference is not always obvious, especially in books addressed to the practical lives of Christians. Many books (and sermons) abound with moral directions and practical exhortations, yet fail to distinguish gospel Christianity from mere religion.

It is now in vogue to use gospel as an adjective. Books on gospel holiness or being gospel centered or gospel driven fill our shelves. Perhaps some readers are even beginning to tire of this trend, viewing it as little more than a passing theological fad. I offer no comment on these titles; my point is only that Owen predated the gospel-centered movement by three and one-half centuries! It is not uncommon to find gospel used as an adjective in Owen’s works. Indeed, he did so in this book at least nine times, as he wrote six times of gospel holiness, twice of gospel repentance, and once each of gospel graces and gospel ordinances.

Then, there is the original title itself, Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of God’s Elect. It is possible that the publishers gave it this title rather than Owen himself, as the treatise was not published until 1695, some twelve years after Owen’s death. Nevertheless, the title accurately describes the content of Owen’s book, as he examined both the grounds and the evidences of saving faith and gave considerable space and effort to distinguishing true saving faith from that which is false. Owen’s intended audience, as the historically savvy reader might well guess, included Roman Catholics, Quakers, and Socinians. Owen was deeply concerned with the formalism, superstition, and legalism of Roman Catholicism; the mysticism of the Quakers; and the rationalism of the Socinians. Over and against them all, he maintained that true saving faith was distinctively grounded upon and shaped by the gospel, which he defined as the divine declaration of the way of God for the saving of sinners, through the person, mediation, blood, righteousness, and intercession of Christ. In Owen’s thinking, the very essence and life of faith consist in the soul’s discerning and giving hearty consent to God’s way of saving sinners through the Son’s work on the cross. True faith consents to this way of salvation as that which both most glorifies God in all of His holy and gracious attributes, and most satisfies and delights the regenerate mind and heart. Where this evangelical conviction is lacking, saving faith is absent.

Driven by this firm conviction, Owen was not content to exhort readers merely to test themselves by external moral, behavioral, or religious